Jonah Got Ate By a Whale
This essay argues very in-depth about why did God choose Jonah to be his prophet. The author's belief is illustrated in the beginning of the third paragraph, "Even if we accept the narrative in its own terms, however, its make-up is somewhat odd. God calls upon Jonah to prophesy to the Ninevites and straightway he flees to Tarshish, to what appears to count in the ancient world as the other end of the earth. Although as a narrative entity the book is already among the shortest in scripture, the whole first part is spent just in getting Jonah back to the point from which the story can begin again." This whole third paragraph seems to be his summary of the whole story of Jonah. The author is questioning why God chose Jonah as his prophet. He makes a good point as to why Jonah is unreliable as a person with little confidence (fleeing from the prophesy to Tarshish).
I was really confused by this essay in whole as he goes into a whole tirade about how Jonah is not the true prophecy or something. This paper was definitely written for people who are scholars in this field.
I was really confused by this essay in whole as he goes into a whole tirade about how Jonah is not the true prophecy or something. This paper was definitely written for people who are scholars in this field.
I appreciate your first impressions and overall opinion about this piece, especially since it basically sums up everything I understood from the piece as well XD. Regarding the question that you said the essay brought up, the question about God chose Jonas to give prophecy, I think God chose Jonah because Jonah had a lesson to learn: that God was all-knowing and merciful. When the essay discusses how Ninevah is actually proto-Israel, I think the author is trying to say that Jonah should not refuse to prophecize just because he believes such a prophecy is bad to give to non-Jewish people -- basically, Jonah is not all-knowing, so he cannot decide when individuals deserve His mercy and salvation.
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